Offshore Wind Cables

Energy Central: "CBP issues ruling on offshore wind electrical cable installation" [CBP = acronym for US Customs + Border Protection]. Fortunately last month CBP made a decision that foreign flagged vessel could install electric transmission cables without violating the coastwise laws. "This decision reflects a growing body of CBP rulings that address whether a Jones Act compliant vessel is required for specific aspects of an offshore wind project." The Jones Act is a blatantly protectionist + outdated law which stipulates that ships onloading in a US port + offloading in another US port must meet 'stringent US-built, US-ownership and crewing requirements that are required to receive a coastwise endorsement from the US Coast Guard.' "CBP's Headquarters Ruling H329630 (March 9, 2023) addressed whether a non-coastwise-qualified cable-lay vessel (CLV) and a non-coastwise-qualified trencher support vessel (TSV) could be used to lay and bury electrical transmission cables on the seabed of US territorial waters and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) that would connect wind turbines on the OCS and offshore substations." A CLV pays out + lowers cable onto the seabed along existing cable routes between wind turbine foundations and/or offshore substation foundations. A TSV uses a submersible tracked cable-burial jetting tool, which is used to bury the cable, the nozzles of which fluidize the seabed soil in front of the trencher to 'reduce friction and allow the cable to be submerged into the fluidized soil/water mix, allowing the cable to be buried to its required depth.' Building similar ships is underway in the US, but it is imperative that we maintain momentum in building out offshore wind to meet climate goals. You don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. The photo is of an advanced cable laying vessel "Leonardo da Vinci"   #windenergy    #jonesact    #climatechange